Activities include extended bus service and a free Syracuse Symphony concert in Armory Square 

Contact: Kevin Schwab, Director of Communications, Downtown Committee
Website: www.syracuseartsandcraftsfestival.com
Corridor Parking and Bus Information for Arts Weekend (pdf)
Complete schedule of bus times and stop locations (pdf)

Thousands of Central New Yorkers will soak in the 37th Annual Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival, set for July 6–8 in Columbus Circle. The Downtown Committee of Syracuse and Syracuse University are collaborating to offer extended bus service and free campus parking for those riding the Connective Corridor bus to the festival, as well as for other cultural opportunities downtown, during what has been dubbed the inaugural Connective Corridor Arts Weekend.

“The Arts & Crafts Festival was the trendsetter for all of the great downtown festivals that Syracuse enjoys today,” says Irwin Davis, executive director of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse. “This year’s festival is made all the more exciting by the fact that it is at the center of the first ever Connective Corridor Arts Weekend, showcasing so many of the outstanding arts and cultural institutions that Syracuse has to offer.”

SU will offer free parking in the Quad 4 parking lot, off College Place on the SU campus, directly across from the main campus bus stop. The free Centro bus will make scheduled stops at the festival, Armory Square and at the many arts and cultural venues throughout the weekend. Buses will stop every 20 minutes at the festival along the corridor route from 9:40 a.m.–11:40 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from 9:40 a.m.–6:20 p.m. on Sunday.

Festival hours are from 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Exhibit booths will be located throughout the Columbus Circle area in the 300 and 400 blocks of Montgomery Street, the 200 and 300 blocks of East Onondaga Street, and the 300 block of East Jefferson Street.  More information can be found online at www.syracuseartsandcraftsfestival.com.

In addition to the festival, the Armory Square Association’s Candlelight Series kicks off on Saturday, July 7, at 8 p.m. with a free performance by the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. The concert will be the first of seven set for the summer featuring top local musicians. New to this year’s Candlelight Series will be special screenings of entries in the 2007 Syracuse International Film Festival. More information can be found at http://www.armorysq.org.

Connective Corridor Arts Weekend stretches from the SU campus to the burgeoning Warehouse District on the city’s Near West Side. Along the Corridor, many of Syracuse’s highly acclaimed arts institutions will participate with a broad range of exhibits. 

At the center of it all is this year’s Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival. The festival includes an exceptionally broad array of contemporary arts and crafts, and offers visitors the chance to become owners of original artwork. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional works are featured, including ceramics, drawings, painting, photography, sculpture, fabric and fiber, jewelry, glass, leather, metal and wood. 

The festival transforms Columbus Circle into a vibrant, colorful mosaic of works from locally and nationally renowned artisans and craftspeople. Festival visitors will be able to shop and browse among the exhibits, meet the artists, create their own works of art, enjoy food and sample some of the wines produced in the nearby Finger Lakes region. 

Street performances play an integral role in the Arts & Crafts Festival. These culturally diverse performances present instruments and techniques used around the world. With an ongoing schedule of performances, visitors will experience traditional European, African, Asian and Latin dancers and performers.

“Over the years, this has become one of the top arts and crafts festivals in the nation,” says Kevin Schwab, director of communications for the Downtown Committee. “Hundreds of artists from across the country submitted work to participate in this year’s show. Fewer than 150 made the cut to be selected.” 

Artists were selected based upon standards of technical quality, creativity and originality.  During the show, exhibitors are competing for ribbons and cash.  A panel of judges will award cash prizes.  The festival is made possible by a grant from New York State Senator John A. Defrancisco. 

The Columbus Circle exhibits make up just one element of an art enthusiast’s dream weekend in Syracuse. Arts and cultural organizations along the Connective Corridor will also provide an opportunityto experience Syracuse’s growing arts scene. Featured participants include

The Company Gallery (ThINC)
One Lincoln Center
110 West Fayette Street
Hours:  11:30am – 6:30pm
Website:  www.thinc.org
Phone:  382-3072
Featured Presentation:  “Aldo Tambellini:  A Cultural History of Syracuse.”  This collection features works from this acclaimed photographer depicting life in Syracuse’s 15th ward in 1948.  Lori Covington contributed to the exhibition which focuses on this near east side neighborhood’s deep historic contribution to the social fabric of the city. ThINC is a progressive arts and culture organization that encourages the artistic expression of those working on new creative enterprises. 

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee Street
Hours:  10:00am-5:00pm Friday; 11:00am-5:00pm Saturday
Website:  www.communityfolkartcenter.org
Phone:  442-2230
Featured Presentation:  “The Fathers’ Project.”  The exhibition features the work of Ellen Blalock.  Blalock displays a portrait of teen fathers and their children, told through photographs, audio and video presentations.  Blalock has exhibited her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. 

Other CFAC presentations include:  “Bag-It:  Works by Lori Crawford” and “Illuminate the Arts:  Portraits by Brantley Carroll.”  The Community Fold Art Center is a program of the Department of African American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University.

Delavan Art Gallery
501 West Fayette Street
Hours:  12:00pm – 6:00pm Friday; 10:00am – 4:00pm Saturday
Website:  www.delavanartgallery.com
Phone:  425-7500
Featured Presentation:  “Glass and Abstracts.”  Acrylic paintings by Thomas Barnes, works on paper and canvas by Linda Bigness, glass pieces by Jerome R. Durr, glass sculpture by R. Jason Howard, and charcoal drawings by Jeff Schuessler make up this exhibition.  Visitors are invited to meet Mr. Durr and Mr. Howard for “Art and Iced Tea,” Saturday from noon to 3:00pm.

The Delavan gallery was created by local artists to provide a professional environment for the community to view and purchase original works of fine art.  The gallery presents new shows approximately every four to five weeks. 

Erie Canal Museum
318 Erie Boulevard East
Hours:  10:00am – 5:00pm Friday & Saturday; 10:00am – 3:00pm Sunday
Website:  www.eriecanalmuseum.org
Phone:  474-6064
Featured Presentation:  “The New York State Barge Canal:  A New Century, A New System.”  Discover the story of the barge canal through the 20th century.  New Yorkers had a choice to make – abandon their canal system and completely adopt the railroads, or adapt the canals to life in a new century.  Visitors will see how the canal system adapted and what innovations were used to make the vibrant system that is still in use today.

The Erie Canal Museum is housed in the 1850 Weighlock Building where canal boats were weighed to assess a toll on their cargo.  It is the only remaining structure of its kind in America.  Inside this historic landmark, visitors will find a treasure of artifacts, maps and images that tell the story of Erie Canal construction and canal life. 

Eureka Crafts
210 Walton Street
Hours:  10:00am – 9:00pm Friday & Saturday; 1:00pm – 5:00pm Sunday
Website:  www.eurekacrafts.com
Phone:  471-4601
Eureka Crafts is proud to be one of the pioneers in Syracuse’s now thriving historic Armory Square district.  Locally owned and operated since 1983, Eureka represents the work of over 300 American craftsmen and women, featuring selections of handmade jewelry, clay, wood, metal, glass and fiber.

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison Street
Hours:  12:00pm – 5:00pm Friday & Sunday; 10:00am – 5:00pm Saturday
Website:  www.everson.org
Phone:  474-6064
Featured Presentation:  “African Shapes of the Sacred:  Yoruba Religious Art.”  This exhibition is an extraordinary collection of African religious objects including 90 – mostly 20th century – traditional objects such as figures, masks, headdresses, divination trays, staffs, vessels and shrine furniture.  The Yoruba people constitute one of the most populous groups in West Africa, numbering more than 20 million people, living primarily in Nigeria. 

Other Everson presentations include:  the “Tom Mazzullo Drawings,” a collection of silverpoint and conte crayon still-life drawings; and “The Art Zone,” an exhibit designed to help children and families interpret the Everson’s collection by teaching basic art principles. 

Light Work / Community Darkrooms
Robert B. Menschel Media Center
316 Waverly Avenue
Hours:  10:00am – 6:00pm
Website:  www.lightwork.org
Phone:  443-1300
Featured Presentation:  The photography of Ben Gest.  Gest’s photographs depict people in moments of deep private thought.  The figures appear emotionally removed from their environments – as if withdrawing from a more public self. 

Gest’s work focuses on how who we are can change when we are in a group.  The subjects are alone in these photographs, but the presence of others is implied.  These are the last breaths, in the last seconds of personal time, before the subjects put on a personal face and adopt the persona they use while in a group of people.

Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology (MOST)
500 South Franklin Street
Hours:  11:00am – 5:00pm
Website:  www.most.org
Phone:  425-9068
Featured Presentation:  “K’NEX:  Building Thrill Rides.”  This special exhibit captivates young visitors and provides the opportunity to explore the physics and technology behind hair-raising amusement park thrill rides.  Models made from K’NEX rods and connectors are on display, ranging from a roller coaster measuring over ten feet tall, a six-foot ferris wheel, swing rides, and the Serpent’s Sprial – a precision roller coaster model made from K’NEX regular and micro parts.

Other attractions include Deep Sea at the Bristol IMAX Omnitheater.  From its giant screen, this film transports viewers below the ocean’s surface to swim with some of the planet’s most unique, dangerous and colorful creatures.  The MOST features exhibitions on geology, the environment, and the human body for kids – and those who are still kids at heart.

Onondaga Historical Association Museum & Research Center
321 Montgomery Street
Hours:  10:00am – 2:00pm Friday; 11:00am – 4:00pm Saturday & Sunday
Website:  www.cnyhistory.org
Phone:  428-1864
Featured Presentation:  “What is an Elephant?”  Follow elephants from the doorway to an underground theatre for an entertaining presentation of folktales from Afghanistan and Central Asia.  Performed by the OHA History Upstagers, these interactive tales illuminate the history, culture and traditions of a country struggling to rebuild from the ashes of devastation   Note:  This program will be performed at 1:00pm Saturday.

Other OHA presentations include:  “Onondaga County:  The Heart of New York,” and “Freedom Bound:  Syracuse & the Underground Railroad.”  OHA’s exhibitions, programs, and research services incorporate the communities of Syracuse and Onondaga County in the rich cultural legacy of the region’s past.

SUArt Galleries
Sims Hall, College Place
Hours:  11:00am – 4:00pm Friday
Website:  suart.syr.edu
Phone:  443-4097
Featured Presentation:  “Woman at Work:  Members of the Art Students League of New York.”  The SUArt Galleries present an exhibition of paintings, prints and drawings examining how Modernism and the formation of the Art Students League impacted the influx of women into the field and their development as influential artists. 

The selection of work begins with artists who were directly influenced by the 1913 Armory Show, such as Peggy Bacon, Maria Wickey and Isabel Bishop.  The exhibition concludes with advent of Abstract Expressionism, showing works by Jan Gelb, Minna Citron, Terry Haass and Helen Frankenthaler. 

The Warehouse
350 West Fayette Street
Hours:  10:00am – 6:00pm Friday and Saturday
Website:  www.thewarehousegallery.org
Phone:  443-6450
Featured Presentation:  “Networked Nature.”  This group exhibition inventively explores the meaning and representation of “nature” from the perspective of networked culture.  The featured works employ scientific processes and locative media – such as global positioning systems (GPS) and robotics – and take the form of installations, video, and sound art.  Together, they make new contributions to the discourses of genres such as sculpture, earth works and landscape imagery, while also demonstrating the scientific beauty and complexity of electronic and digital art.

The Warehouse is a contemporary art space exhibiting, commissioning and promoting work by local and international artists in a variety of media.  The gallery’s mission is to engage the community in a dialogue regarding the role that the arts can play in illuminating the critical issues of our times.